Legacy
by AndreeaRaducan
Summary: AU. When the team lost a beloved member, they thought they'd never see her again. Seven years later, when they've just managed to move on, their world is shaken up again. Rated T.


**A/N: This is a new idea, obviously it's been done before, but it was inspired by 'Foundation'**

**Summary: In the winter of 2005, Jennifer Jareau went missing. Seven years later, her team receives a message; one that indicates their colleague may still be alive.**

**AU: No Will or Henry**

**Pairing: JJ/Morgan trust relationship (no romance as yet)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own CM.**

Supervisory Special Agent Aaron Hotchner sat hunched at his desk, rubbing his eyes to fight off the tiredness that was looming. The case file in front of him was blurring in front of his eyes, making it even harder to focus. The lamps in his office were helping to fight off the urge to sleep, but not very well. But the one thing that was making it most difficult for Hotch to concentrate was the fact that he could not get a particular stunning woman off of his mind.

Placing his pen on the desk in front of him, Aaron sat back against his chair, rubbing his eyes again. Deciding that a short walk might help him wake up a little, he pulled himself out of the chair, and dragged himself over to the door.

Stepping out onto the catwalk, he took in the sight before him in the bullpen. Supervisory Special Agent Derek Morgan was still at his desk, taking up the position Aaron had just moved from; hunched over a case file in a last ditch attempt to complete all paperwork before leaving for the night. Every now and then, he would glance up at one of the photos that sat on his desk. There were two framed photos sitting side by side on Derek's desk. But Aaron knew exactly which one he was looking at.

Slowly, Aaron approached the desk, standing beside it until Derek looked up.

"Hotch?"

"You're thinking about her too," he stated simply. Derek sighed, putting his pen down and reaching for the photograph that now had both their attention. It was a group photo, taken just the week before the tragedy that had almost ripped the team apart. Supervisory Special Agents Jason Gideon and Elle Greenaway were smiling, happy with their lives at the time. They had both left the Bureau since the picture had been taken, unable to deal with the depressed and grievous atmosphere that hung around the team all the time. Between them, Supervisory Special Agent Dr Spencer Reid, with his awkward smile and college student hair. He had changed so much since then, even though the tragedy had almost broken him. It had taken a long time for him to pull himself together.

Aaron and Derek stood on the other side of Jason, Derek's arm around the funky tech girl, Technical Analyst Penelope Garcia. She had been distraught, much like Spencer had, and had taken just as long, if not longer, to pull her life back to normality.

Next to Penelope, with a smile lighting up her beautiful face, Supervisory Special Agent Jennifer Jareau, or JJ. Words couldn't even describe how much the team missed her. The stunning blonde had definitely been an asset to the team, and was sweeter than sugar to everyone she met. It had also been no secret that Spencer had had a bit of a crush on his colleague. They had gone on one date, on which it was rumoured that they had shared a sweet kiss. Their relationship status, as far as the team knew, had remained 'just friends', but they all knew there had been something between the two young agents, a spark waiting to ignite. They had just needed a little push. Something that never happened in the course of the year following. Just a little more than a year after Spencer and JJ's date, Aaron had been woken in the middle of the night by a chilling phone call.

_Aaron scrubbed his face with his hand as he pushed himself up onto his elbow and reached for his phone. Pressing it to his ear, he tried to sound awake. "Hotchner"_

"_Agent Hotchner, this is Detective Nicholson with the DCPD. We just got a call out to a disturbance from a neighbour of the reported address, and upon arrival, we found an ID badge just inside the front door. It indicated that the victim..."_

_Victim. Immediately Aaron's heart began to pound and he felt sick. Victim. If they were calling him at this time of night, using the word 'victim', someone on the team was hurt._

"_...was an agent on your team. Does the name Supervisory Special Agent Jennifer Jareau sound familiar to you?"_

_Aaron could barely breathe. One of his team. Hurt. Petite blonde JJ. By the sounds of it, JJ wasn't at her house._

"_She's the media liaison on my team, yes," he choked out, now sitting up on the edge of the bed. By now, Haley had woken up, and was watching him with concern._

"_Agent Hotchner, you should come out to the crime scene with the rest of your team now. I think you might need to see this"_

It had been seven very long years since JJ had gone missing. Seven long years in which the team members who still remained, and no doubt the ones who had left, thought about the smashed window in JJ's lounge room, the bloodstains all over the bedroom and kitchen, and the long marks along the hallway wall where JJ had dragged her nails through the paint.

_Derek felt sick as he slowly walked down the hallway of JJ's small suburban home, side stepping the members of forensics and DCPD as they photographed evidence and placed numbered tags in appropriate places._

_There were faint bloodstains on the walls, along with marks from where JJ had dragged her nails along the wall, but as he walked into the kitchen, Derek was horrified._

_A knife sat on the counter, a pool of blood beneath the blade. There was blood on the window, broken glass and blood on the floor._

_He only hoped it wasn't all JJ's._

The house had been taped off for four months, in which time Elle had left and Supervisory Special Agent Emily Prentiss had joined their team. She had never known JJ, but after being filled in on what had happened, had become just as dedicated as the rest of them to finding her and bringing her home.

They had lost hope that she was still alive.

"I miss her, Hotch. It's been seven years today since we got that phone call, and we haven't been able to find the son of a bitch that took her," Derek said sadly, looking up at his leader. Aaron placed his hand on the younger man's shoulder as Derek stood up, slinging his jacket over his arm and his bag over his shoulder.

"We all miss her, Morgan. More than anyone can ever imagine"

Derek nodded slowly. Without another word spoken between them, the younger man turned and headed for the bullpen doors. As he reached out to pull it open, he turned and looked back to Aaron.

"Did you ever consider it?"

"Consider what?"

"Re-opening the case," Derek stated. Aaron remained silent for a few moments, before looking up at Derek and nodding slowly.

"Then why don't we?" Derek said simply. Turning away, he pushed the door open and crossed the main hallway to the elevators. Aaron watched his retreating back until the elevator doors had slid shut. Taking a deep breath, he headed back up to his office, leaving the door open behind him. Instead of returning to the case on his desk, he rifled through the shelf where he kept unsolved cases until he came across the name he was looking for.

_Jennifer Jareau_

**A/N: What did you think?**

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**SQ215 xxx**


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